


Happy Birthday

by yourboyfriendisawhatnow



Series: Human Nature [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 21:51:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14703078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourboyfriendisawhatnow/pseuds/yourboyfriendisawhatnow
Summary: Ashley and Justin celebrate a long-held tradition.





	Happy Birthday

_February 4th, 2008_

 

The sun rose slowly over the rooftops of the apartment complexes. The streets were dimly lit as people began waking up from their slumber and preparing for their day. Only the younger kids found themselves conscious at this hour. A young boy, about ten years old with short and sandy blonde hair raced around his low level apartment in front of the bay window on the front of his apartment.

 

“Come on, Ashley, don’t be such a slow poke! Let’s go!” The boy yelled, eager to start his day. Ashley, his sister, poked her head out from behind the door that connected to her bathroom. Her elbow length hair, also a sandy blonde, fell loosely off the side of her shoulder. She grinned at the boy before ducking back in the bathroom.

 

“I’m almost ready, Justin. Just give me a couple minutes.” Ashley began attempting to quickly style her hair in the mirror. Justin made a whining noise before his running footsteps were heard rushing around the house.

 

“There’s no time!” He whined. “It’s gonna start soon. We have to leave now!” Ashley sighed, giving up on her hair as she pulled it into a ponytail. Justin cheered as Ashley grabbed her bag with all her essentials inside before rushing him out of the house. The door was beginning to close when Ashley turned on her heel and shoved her arm through the door.

 

“I almost forgot the keys,” she muttered as she slipped through the door. The keys were placed in a bowl next to a picture of an older man and woman sitting with two children. Ashley paid no mind to the picture as she rummaged through the bowl. She found the keys that she was looking for and dashed back out of the house. Justin was impatiently tapping his foot while waiting for her and jumped up from his perch on the window sill when she exited the house. “I think I’m good now.” She smiled at him. “You ready?” he grinned, eagerly nodding his head up and down. “Good,” she replied. “Let’s go then.”

 

The pair began to walk down the street, hoping to avoid the men that sat out on their porches all day and just watched the people. Ashley was relieved to find that they were not in fact outside and grabbed for Justin’s hand as they made their way to the destination. Justin held her hand tightly and hummed a familiar tune as he struggled to keep up with her long strides.

 

“You know, if we had a dog, you wouldn’t forget your keys so much.”

 

“Those two things are not correlated with each other and you know it, Justin.”

 

“Well, can we get a dog?”

 

“No.” Ashley kept her eyes forward, so she wouldn’t be pulled in by Justin’s little begging eyes.

 

“Why not?” Justin whined.

 

“Because I said so.”

 

“That’s not an answer.”

 

“It is to me.”

 

Justin squeezed her hand. “Well maybe you should get a boyfriend. He’ll let me have a dog.” Ashley chuckled in response.

 

After a couple minutes of walking, the duo arrived at a dilapidated building that, Ashley once remarked, probably had never been up to code. With each gust of wind the building creaked and groaned at a worrisome level. It did not scare the two siblings as they bravely entered the building through the plastic that covered where a door had once been. They climbed up the stairs, Ashley cautious and making sure her brother made it to each level, to the top floor of the old tower. They walked over to a window that overlooked the horizon of the whole city. Ashley sucked in a breath as she took the sights in once again.

 

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” She mumbled, not wanting to spoil the moment. Justin nodded slowly as he angled his body to face a crowd of people down below. The noise increased as music began to play, and the crowd of people separated to show a parade making its way down the closed street. The music had just barely reached the perch where the pair sat. People cheered and celebrated as the parade passed them by. From their place in the sky, the siblings could see as the partygoers threw whatever nonlethal object they could to get into the mood of the celebration.

 

“Ashley?” Justin whispered.

 

“Mm?” She hummed in response.

 

“Why is there a parade today anyway? There’s no holiday close by except for Valentine’s Day.”

 

“Oh, buddy, don’t be silly. They’re celebrating you, obviously,” Ashley said as she pondered the real reason. The parades had been happening for as long as she could remember. No one ever really knew why the parade happened, but they celebrated just the same. Ashley wrapped her arms around her brother, whether to keep him safe on the unsteady perch or for another reason. Her heart swelled with love as Justin leaned back, snuggling into her shoulder like he used to do after a long day at the beach with their parents. She sighed, memories flooding her brain, filling her with nostalgia with the remembrance of easier days. The music began to die down as the parade and party came to a close, the partygoers leaving to find more alert crowds.

 

Justin’s head started to droop as he fell asleep. Ashley angled her arms to properly carry her brother. She steadied him and began her walk home.

 

By the time she had reached the apartment, Justin was fast asleep, snoring slightly. Ashley carried him up to his bed and gently placed him under the covers. She stroked the loose hair out of his face before getting up and turning off the light. She was about to leave his room when she turned around and whispered, to herself or to him, she didn’t know.

 

“Happy birthday, buddy.”

 


End file.
